Idris Elba earns Disney stripes as tiger in new Jungle Book film

Idris Elba will be the voice of tiger Shere Khan in a live-action remake of The Jungle Book, directed by Jon Favreau.

The 41-year-old actor from East Ham, who recently played the late Nelson Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, has signed up to Disney's live-action take of the classic children's film.

According to Deadline, the star, who has also appeared in Thor: The Dark World, is in final negotiations to perform the role and provide the voice of the animal, who stalks young Mowgli after deciding to kill him before he becomes too much of a threat.

The movie will be a mix of live action and VFX that is being overseen by Oscar-winner, Rob Legato, who has worked on Avatar, The Wolf Of Wall Street, Hugo and Titanic.

Production designers Alex McDowell (Man Of Steel, Rise Of The Guardians) and Chris Glass will lead a team of concept artists and the story team is headed by Iron Man's David Lowery, who's working with seven illustrators.

Disney is in a race with Warner Bros on versions of Rudyard Kipling's famous title and the rival project is still searching for a director after Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu dropped out of the project.

Meanwhile, Elba, who has become an in-demand star in the past year, will also soon appear in the Cary Fukunaga-directed Beasts Of No Nation.